L A W. 
584 
by; the mo ft promiflhg and fenfible whereof (fuch as the 
eftablilhment of new trials, the abolition of feodal te¬ 
nures, the aft of navigation, and fome others,) were 
adopted in the. 
V. Fifth period, which is after the reftoration of king 
Charles II. Immediately upon which, the principal re¬ 
maining grievance, the doftrine and confequences of mi¬ 
litary tenures, were taken away and aboliHied, except in 
the inllance of corruption of inheritable blood upon at¬ 
tainder of treafon and felony. And though the monarch, 
in whofe perfon the royal government was reltored, and 
with it our ancient conftitution, deferves no commenda¬ 
tion from pofterity, yet in his reign, (wicked, fanguinary, 
and turbulent, as it was,) the concurrence of happy cir- 
cumftances was fuch, that from thence we may date not 
only the re-eiiablifhment of our church and monarchy, 
but alfo the complete reftitution of Englilh liberty, for 
the firft time, fince its total abolition at the conqueft. 
For therein not only thefe flavifli tenures, the badge of 
foreign dominion, with all their oppreftive appendages, 
were removed from incumbering the eftates of the fub- 
jeft; but alfo an additional fecurity of his perfon from 
imprifonment was obtained, by that great bulwark of our 
conftitution, the habeas corpus act. Thefe two (latutes, 
with regard to our property and perfons, form a fecond 
Magna Charta, as beneficial and effeftual as that of Run¬ 
ning-Mead. That only pruned the luxuriances of the 
feodal fyftem ; but the ftatute of Charles II. extirpated 
all its flaveries ; except perhaps in copyhold tenure; and 
there alfo they are now in great meal'ure enervated by 
gradual cultorn, and the interpofition of our courts of 
juftice. Magna Charta only, in general terms, declared, 
that no man (hall be imprifoned contrary to law; the ha¬ 
beas corpus aft points him out effectual means, as well 
to releafe himfelf, though committed even by the king in 
council, as to punifii all thole who lliall thus unconltitu- 
tionally mifufe him. 
To thefe may be added the abolition of the preroga¬ 
tives of purveyance and pre-emption; the ftatute for hold¬ 
ing triennial parliaments ; the left and corporation afts, 
which lecure both our civil and religious liberties; the 
abolition of the writ de harctico comburcndo ; the ftatute of 
frauds and perjuries, a great and neceflary fecurity to pri¬ 
vate property ; the ftatute for diftribution of inteftates’ 
eftates, and that of amendments and jeofails, which cut 
off thofe fuperfluous niceties which fo long had difgraced 
our courts ; together with many other vvholefome afts 
that were palled in this reign, for the benefit of naviga¬ 
tion and the improvement of foreign commerce; and the 
whole, when we likewife confider the freedom from taxes 
and armies which the fnbjeft then enjoyed, will be fuffi- 
cient to demonftrate this truth, “ that the conftitution of 
England had arrived to its full vigour, and the true ba¬ 
lance between liberty and prerogative was happily efta- 
bli(lied by law, in the reign of king Charles II.” Blackft. iv. 
439. The point of time at which fir William Blackftone 
fixed this theoretical perfection of our public law, is the 
year 1679 ; after the habeas corpus aft was palled, and 
that for licenfing the prefs had expired ; though the years 
which immediately followed it were times of great prac¬ 
tical oppreflion. 
It is far from our intention to palliate or defend many 
very iniquitous proceedings, contrary to all law, in that 
reign, through the artifice of wicked politicians, both in 
and out of employment. What feems inconteftible is 
this, that by the law, as it then ftocd, (notwithftanding 
fome invidious, nay dangerous, branches of the preroga¬ 
tive have fince been lopped off, and the reft more clearly 
defined,) the people had as a large portion of real liberty 
as feems confiftent with a ftate of fociety; and fulficient pow¬ 
er redding in their own hands to affert and preferve that 
liberty, it invaded by the royal prerogative. For which 
we need but appeal to the memorable cataltrophe of the 
next reign. For, when king Charles’s deluded brother at¬ 
tempted to enllave the nation, he found it was beyond 
his power; the people both could, and did, refill: him; 
and, in confequence of fuch refiftance, obliged him to 
quit his enterprife and his'throne together. Which in¬ 
troduces us to the la-ft period of our legal liiftory ; viz. 
VI. From the revolution in 1688 to the prefent time. 
In this period many laws have palled ; as the bill of 
rights, the toleration aft, the aft of fettlement with its 
conditions, the aft for uniting England with Scotland, 
under the title of Great Britain, and recently Great Bri¬ 
tain with Ireland, and fome others; which have afferted 
our liberties in more clear and empliatical terms ; have 
regulated the fucceifion of the crown by parliament, as 
the exigencies of religious and civil freedom required ; 
have confirmed and exemplified the doftrine of refiftance, 
when the executive magilirate endeavours to fubvert the 
conftitution; have maintained the fuperiority of the laws 
above the king, by pronouncing his difpenling power to 
be illegal; have indulged tender confciences with every 
religious liberty confiftent with the fafety of the ftate; 
have excluded certain officers from the houfe of com. 
mons; have reftrained the king’s pardon from obftructing 
parliamentary impeachments; have imparted to all the 
lords an equal right of trying their fellow peers; have 
regulated.trials for high treafon; have afforded our pofte¬ 
rity a hope that corruption of blood may one day be abo- 
liflied and forgotten; have (by the defire of his prefent 
majefty) let bounds to the civil lift, and placed the admi- 
niltration of that revenue in hands that are accountable 
to parliament; and have (by the like defire) made the 
judges completely independent of the king, his niinifters, 
and his fucceffors. Yet, though thefe provifions have, in 
appearance and nominally, reduced the ftrength of the 
executive power to a much lower ebb than in the preced¬ 
ing period ; if on the other hand we throw into the op- 
polite fcale (what perhaps the reduction of the ancient 
prerogative may have rendered in fome degree necelfary) 
the valt acquilition of force, arifing from the riot-aft, 
and the annual, expedience of a (landing army; and the 
vaft acquilition of perfonal attachment, arifing from the 
magnitude of the national debt, and the manner of levy¬ 
ing thofe yearly millions that are appropriated to pay the 
infereft; we lliall find that the crown has gradually and 
imperceptibly gained as much in influence as it has appa¬ 
rently loft in prerogative. See the article King, vol. xi. 
p. 736. 
The chief alterations of moment (for the time would 
fail us to defcend to minulice) in the adminiftration of 
private juftice during this period, are the folemn recog¬ 
nition of the law of nations with refpeft to the rights 
of ambaffadors ; the cutting off by the ftatute, for the 
amendment of the law, a vaft nutnbcrof excrefcences, 
that in procefs of time had fprung out of the praftical 
part of it; the protection of corporate rights by the im¬ 
provements in writs of mandamus, and informations in 
nature of quo warranto-, the regulations of trials by jury, 
and the admitting witnefl'es for prifoners upon oath ; the 
farther reftraints upon alienation of lands in mortmain ; 
the annihilation of the terrible judgment of peine fort et 
dure-, the extenlion of the benefit of clergy, by abolitliing 
the pedantic criterion of reading ; the counterbalance to 
this mercy, by the vaft increafe of capital punilhment; 
the new and effeftual methods for the fpeedy recovery 
of rents; the improvements which have been made in 
ejectments for the trying of titles; the introduftion 
and eftablilhment of paper-credit by indorfements upon 
bills and notes, which have Ihown the legal polfibility 
and convenience (which our anceltors fo long doubted) 
of aftigning a chofe in aftion ; the tranllation ol all 
legal proceedings into the Englilh language 5 the ereftion 
ot courts of confidence for recovering linall debts, 
and (which is much the better plan) the reforma¬ 
tion of county-courts; the great fyftem of marine jurif- 
prudence, of which the foundations have been laid, by 
clearly developing the principles on which policies of in- 
furance are founded, and by happily applying thole prin- 
1 ... ftples 
